Broadband

Politically charged and economically vital, the technology of broadband defines the limits of how services and data can reach from the enterprise to the home. New standards battle it out with established players on cable, in fibre and over wireless, bringing technical, regulatory and commercial pressures to bear on a rapidly changing market.

Singtel says it will work with the telecoms equipment maker to identify possible applications of 5G networks for consumers and businesses, including trials for potential technologies on the mobile network.

The CeBIT 2011 action is over now, with stalls being dismantled in front of the ZDNet Australia team's eyes last night. But while it was alive, it was bustling and full of tech. Take a look at some of the stalls we visited.

Prysmian Telecom Cables and Systems was awarded a contract of up to $300 million this week to supply fibre-optic cables for the National Broadband Network (NBN). NBN Co head Mike Quigley visited the company's Dee Why factory after the announcement.

Work is well underway in putting fibre in the ground of the first mainland roll-out sites for the Federal Government's $37.5 billion National Broadband Network project. ZDNet Australia took a trip to one of the sites to see how the project was unfolding.

The CSIRO and National ICT Australia in conjunction with the New South Wales Government yesterday launched a new multimillion-dollar broadband research lab in Marsfield designed to develop applications for the National Broadband Network.

Fibre-optic backbone specialist Nextgen Networks has installed over 8000km of its own fibre across Australia, but its current role as prime contractor for the government's 6000km Regional Backbone Blackspots Program (RBBP) has given it a high profile in the National Broadband Network (NBN) roll-out, especially now that the provider has reached its halfway point.

We took a trip down to Ingleburn to Australia's largest media broadcast facility, MediaHub. ZDNet Australia had a chat with its chief, Andrew Hogg, and dived behind the lines to have a peek at its server-heavy backline.

July has arrived, but the first National Broadband Network (NBN) service is yet to be turned on, despite former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd having nominated this month as the go-live time. According to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, the start of services will be dictated by new Prime Minister Julia Gillard's diary.

The national roll-out of the Federal Government's National Broadband Network (NBN) is unlikely to use the same equipment that has been installed in the first portion of the network's build involving three Tasmanian suburbs, according to the chief executive Mike Quigley of NBN Co, the company charged with building it.

NBN Co has not yet delivered its business case to the Federal Government, despite having previously said it would be handed over by 31 May, the group's chief executive Mike Quigley confirmed this week.

Why did Telstra recently shut down its Now We Are Talking website? The problem, according to Telstra chief executive David Thodey, was that "the other guy left it running" and everyone had got sore throats from talking too much.

ACT senator and former shadow Minister for ICT Kate Lundy told ZDNet.com.au last month in a video interview that a project as large as the National Broadband Network was bound to see schedule slippage.

At the AlwaysOn Summit at Stanford, business executives discuss the future of education publishing in the Digital Age. They talk about the challenges associated with changing the current system and potential solutions. Panelists include Bruce Kingma, associate provost at Syracuse University; Mark Atkinson, CEO of Teachscape; James Shelton, former program director at the Gates Foundation; Ntiedo Etuk, CEO of Tabula Digita. Michael Moe, CEO of NextAdvisors, moderates the discussion.

In late April, Australian breakfast television broke the dire revelation that the internet was near capacity and would soon be full. So with CeBIT underway, we took the opportunity to ask the punters what they thought of the impending disaster.

It should have provided high-speed, low-power wireless connectivity for homes and offices everywhere. But instead of more products you can shake a stick at, all UltraWideBand has to show for itself to date is a French USB stick you can shake. Dialogue Box explains why

If the Coalition were back in power today it would bring back the $950 million rural broadband network plans which Communications Minister Stephen Conroy cancelled, Shadow Minister Nick Minchin said in a video interview with ZDNet.com.au last week.

Telstra's wireless service is for Australian road warriors who don't mind paying big bucks for maximum mobility.According to the Telstra, its existing CDMA network covers about one-fifth of the Australian landmass and over 98 percent of the population.